I am looking at a used option. The front bumper has some chips and the paint work has minor blemishes.

If this car was on a yard do the dealers generally fix the paintwork in preparation for sale?? Is that part of the cost difference? I don't recall seeing major paint blemishes on cars in yards or was I just not very observant?

How do you repair stone chips and paint chips? Does the entire panel need to be repainted? I can't imagine that would be cheap for me as a cash sale - do dealers get to do this at a drastically cheaper rate?

How do you repair stone chips and paint chips? Does the entire panel need to be repainted? I can't imagine that would be cheap for me as a cash sale - do dealers get to do this at a drastically cheaper rate?

Depends if you just want to make the chip less visible or if you want it totally gone
Completely removing the chip means a repaint

If a PPSR check is done on a vehicle (to check for loans/money owing) and it is clear, can I be scammed by a seller that for examples goes and takes a loan out on the morning before I buy the vehicle off them later the same day?

If a PPSR check is done on a vehicle (to check for loans/money owing) and it is clear, can I be scammed by a seller that for examples goes and takes a loan out on the morning before I buy the vehicle off them later the same day?

I thought about doing that just before buying but someone told me it was paranoia to the max AND that if the private seller did that it would be fraud (correct) so therefore the finance company could/would not repossess from me. Not so sure about the second statement.

It's not paranoia, it's the reality these days. It is fraud yes, but finance company won't care, they'll take the car and leave you to chase up the owner.

Tell that person with the advice they should stick to what they know (i'd also stop taking anything they say seriously). There are people getting caught out all the time due to not doing their due diligence.

Big difference between dealers and private sellers, as to how they can operate though. So without knowing which it is, hard to say. GL. I sold a trailer recently, and had them change ownership before pick up. If concerned, i'd do the PPSR check when standing at the vehicle, then change the ownership, then and over the cash. Not sure there is anything else you can do really.

It is an older person's car, an older person was selling it, and I made a judgement call in the end.

We sat in a cafe, he bought me a coffee (read into that what you will), and I fired up my laptop and asked that we both register change of ownership on my laptop in front of each other.

I asked him to check his internet banking to check that my money had gone through (same bank to same bank) and he asked me whether it was safe for him to use his internet banking "in a public place" (he didn't connect to the cafe wifi and was using mobile data). He almost didn't care whether the money (large sum) had landed in his account but I told him I wanted to be assured that he had received the money.

He was also suspicious as to my motives behind printing out a sale and purchase agreement (very basic standard template found online).

So in the end I thought he probably didn't set out to defraud me. Not 100% but was a judgement call.